Certain polysaccharide materials have been used for surgical repair or drug delivery. Documents relating to such materials include U.S. Pat. No. 6,514,522 (Domb) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,053,068 B2 (Prinz), U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. US 2005/0176620 A1 (Prestwych et al.) and US 2005/0238702 A1 (Ishihara et al.), Canadian Patent Application No. 2 348 842 A1 (Bernkop-Schnürch), Published PCT Application Nos. WO 98/31712 A2 (B.F. Goodrich Co.), WO 01/00246 A2 (Bentley et al.) and WO 03/020771 A1 (Mucobiomer Biotechnologische Forschungs-und Entwicklungs GmbH), Mi et al., Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Chitosan-Based Network Prepared Using Naturally-Occurring Crosslinker, J Polym Sci, Part A: Polym Chem, 38, 2804-2814 (2000), Mi et al., Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable TPP/genipin co-crosslinked chitosan gel beads, Polymer, 44, 6521-30 (2003), Roldo et al., Mucoadhesive thiolated chitosans as platforms for oral controlled drug delivery: synthesis and in vitro evaluation, European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 57, 115-121 (2004), Krauland et al., Viscoelastic Properties of a New in situ Gelling Thiolated Chitosan Conjugate, Drug Development And Industrial Pharmacy, 31, 885-893 (2005), Bernkop-Schniirch, Thiomers: A new generation of mucoadhesive polymers, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 57, 1569-1582 (2005), Bernkop-Schnürch et al., Thiomers: Preparation and in vitro evaluation of a mucoadhesive nanoparticulate drug delivery system, International journal of Pharmaceutics, 317, 76-81 (2006) and Weng et al., Rheological Characterization of in Situ Crosslinkable Hydrogels Formulated from Oxidized Dextran and N-Carboxyethyl Chitosan, Biomacromolecules, 8, 1109-1115 (2007).